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A week ago, Columbus schools Superintendent Gene Harris warned that the budget ax might chop the
length of the school day, eliminate bus rides for high-schoolers and end middle-school sports.

Now, all of those potentially drastic cuts — totaling more than $14 million — are off the table,
Harris told the school board last night.

In between, the district and the governor’s office cleared up a miscommunication over finances
that means the district could actually net $29.2 million more in state aid if legislators enact
Gov. John Kasich’s school-funding proposal.

Because a spreadsheet outlining the potential windfall from the state omitted $25 million that
the district currently gets for transportation and career-technical training, district Treasurer
Penny Rucker thought the state increase was proposed to be around $4 million. Even though the
governor’s budget would replace all $25 million that administrators thought they needed to cut,
Harris said they’re still being “very conservative” and planning for cuts.

Based on the new, correct information, Rucker thinks that $15 million in cuts for next year
would get the district through the school year without running a deficit.

“The reality is that the state funding process is fluid,” Harris told the school board during
last night’s special meeting. “ We want to make sure that we can get through (the 2013-14 school
year) without interruption.”

Now off the table are the reductions of 103 teaching positions that would have resulted from a
shortening of the high- and middle-school work day. About 200 mostly non-teaching positions still
could be cut.

Harris now proposes cutting 11 of her central-office administrators’ positions from next year’s
budget, up from two last week when she unveiled potential cuts. Harris declined to say last night
which positions she’s identified, saying the workers haven’t yet been notified that their jobs may
be eliminated.

The administrative cuts would save $1.26 million a year, Harris said. Four of the positions are
funded by federal grants, and another by capital-improvement funds, she said. The others are paid
out of the general fund.

The switch “is not to say that these positions aren’t needed, because they absolutely are,”
Harris said.

Board member Bryan O. Steward told Harris last week that sparing Downtown administrators from
the budget ax at the expense of cutting staff members in the schools wouldn’t be leading by
example.

Former board member Stephanie Groce told the board that it has no idea how many administrators
the district actually has because Harris calls them by different names, such as “teachers on
special assignment.” These workers are not in the classroom or even the schools, but perform
administrative functions.

Groce said the school-board input is largely “ceremonial” when it comes to approving a
budget.

“To the best of my knowledge, none of you have reviewed a departmental budget,” Groce said.

Board member Mike Wiles confirmed that the board has received no line-item budget for next
year.

Board members offered Harris limited guidance last night on where to focus cuts. Harris said she
hopes to have the board vote on a package by next Tuesday, if possible, so that she has time to
give the required notice to employees under work rules. That notice is due by next month, Harris
said.